“My dear friend,” replied Athos, quietly, “I should like to persuade you of one thing; namely, that I wish to be arrested,- that I desire above all things that my arrest should take place.” D’Artagnan made a movement of his shoulders. “What does that mean? It is so. If you were to let me escape, it would be only to return of my own accord, and constitute myself a prisoner. I wish to prove to this young man, who is dazzled by the power and splendor of his crown, that he can be regarded as the first among men only by proving himself to be the most generous and the wisest among them. He may punish, imprison, or torture me,- it matters not. He abuses his opportunities, and I wish him to learn the bitterness of remorse, while Heaven teaches him what a chastisement is.”
“Well,” replied d’Artagnan, “I know only too well that when you have once said ‘No,’ you mean ‘No.’ I do not insist any longer. You wish to go to the Bastille?”
“I do wish to go there.”
“Let us go, then! To the Bastille!” cried d’Artagnan to the coachman; and throwing himself back in the carriage, he gnawed the ends of his mustache with a fury which to Athos, who knew him well, signified a resolution either already taken or in course of formation. A profound silence ensued in the carriage, which continued to roll on, but neither faster nor slower than before.
Athos took the musketeer by the hand. “You are not angry with me, d’Artagnan?” he said.
“I? Oh, no! certainly not, of course not! What you do from heroism, I should have done from obstinacy.”
“But you are quite of opinion, are you not, that Heaven will avenge me, d’Artagnan?”
“And I know some persons on earth who will lend a helping hand,” said the captain.
Chapter XXIV: Three Guests Astonished to Find Themselves at Supper Together
THE carriage arrived at the outer gate of the Bastille. A soldier on guard stopped it; but d’Artagnan had only to utter a single word to procure admittance, and the carriage passed on. While they were proceeding along the covered way which led to the courtyard of the governor’s residence, d’Artagnan, whose lynx eye saw everything, even through the walls, suddenly cried out, “What is that out yonder?”
“Well,” said Athos, quietly, “what is it?”
“Look yonder, Athos!”
“In the courtyard?”
“Yes, yes; make haste!”
“Well, a carriage; very likely conveying a prisoner like myself.”
“That would be too droll.”
“I do not understand you.”
“Make haste and look again, and look at the man who is just getting out of that carriage.”
At that very moment a second sentinel stopped d’Artagnan; and while the formalities were gone through, Athos could see at a hundred paces from him the man whom his friend had pointed out to him. He was, in fact, getting out of the carriage at the door of the governor’s house. “Well,” inquired d’Artagnan, “do you see him?”
“Yes; he is a man in a gray suit.”
“What do you say of him?”
“I cannot very well tell. He is, as I have just now told you, a man in a gray suit, who is getting out of a carriage; that is all.”
“Athos, I will wager anything it is he.”
“He?- who?”
“Aramis.”
“Aramis arrested? Impossible!”
“I do not say he is arrested, since we see him alone in his carriage.”
“Well, then, what is he doing here?”
“Oh, he knows Baisemeaux, the governor!” replied the musketeer, slyly. “My faith! we have arrived just in time.”
“What for?”
“In order to see what we can see.”
“I regret this meeting exceedingly. When Aramis sees me, he will be very much annoyed,- in the first place at seeing me, and in the next at being seen.”
“Very well reasoned.”
“Unfortunately, there is no remedy for it. Whenever any one meets another in the Bastille, even if he wished to draw back to avoid him, it would be impossible.”
“Athos, I have an idea: the question is, to spare Aramis the annoyance you were speaking of, is it not?”
“What is to be done?”